Loss and Revenge
by Thefanficmistress
Summary: Dylan finally finds the man he’s been looking for, for 5 long years, but quickly realizes just how much he's changed. (A Harpercentric story which contains a lot of action and a lot of angst.) New Chapter! 8-01-04
1. Default Chapter

Title: Loss and Revenge  
  
Rating : R for language, violence and sexual content  
  
Summary: Dylan finally finds the man he's been looking for, for 5 long years, but quickly realizes just how much he's changed. (contains a lot of action and a lot of angst.)  
  
Chapter 1: Unexpected hello  
  
Dylan stood in front of the rundown home, his teeth chattering and his breath rolling out in a huge cloud of cold white. He adjusted his collar to ward off the intense weather and knocked hesitantly on the strange metal door. It boomed hollowly against his knuckles and he could hear shuffling inside.  
  
"Who is it?" a female voice yelled which sounded muffled through the flimsy steal they called a door. Dylan looked around the bustling ghetto before answering wondering if he would find what he was seeking here.  
  
"I'm a friend of your husband. I wanted to speak with him." He said chattering at the bitter cold that swirled relentlessly around him. The snow flakes gathering on his thick trench coat, gradually turning it from black to white. He constantly looked over his shoulder eyeing all the shady, dirty characters that stalked around the dilapidated rust metal town.  
  
"He's not home..." she said coldly. He could hear that she was near the door. He desperately wanted to get inside...he needed warmth but he didn't want to sound pushy.  
  
"I've been looking for him, for awhile...my name is Dylan hunt...maybe he's spoken of me."  
  
"Dylan Hunt, the commonwealth captain?"  
  
"Yes..." Dylan said not knowing if that would be a good or bad thing in her eyes. The commonwealth was a dream but for some they didn't see it that way. They saw a controlling nightmare, a system of government that was doomed to failure. Lifting spirits and ideals only to have them crushed in the end. Surprisingly the rusted door slid back and a beautiful tall woman stood before him. Her dark eyes surveying him, taking in his clothes and stature to see if she truly believed he was who he said he was.  
  
"It's cold out there..." she said watching him shiver. Gusts of cold wind blew passed her and into the house making her hair whirl like it was some sort of sentient creature. The cold didn't seem to phase her at all which was fairly odd to Dylan.  
  
"Most people don't come out here searching for people in this kind of weather." She said continuing to eye him and look pass him to see if he had any flunkies in wait. Waiting for the right opportunity to jump her and rob her blind.  
  
"Well, he's very important to me. A friend I thought I had lost a long time ago." Dylan said and the women shifted with disbelief, sweeping her long jet-black hair over her dark smooth shoulder and frowning with her full plump lips.  
  
"Come Inside" she said stepping aside to let the stranger in and Dylan didn't hesitate to enter out of the unbearable weather. Inside it was nice and warm. The fire was lit in the corner of the home that didn't look anything like he had expected. The place looked cozy and modern with a rich amber glow. It was well-furnished and decorated with paintings and various sculptures and nicnacks. He removed his coat and relished in the heat blowing his hot breath on his frozen hands. The ebony women placed his coat and hat on the rack next to the door and ventured deeper into the house. Dylan hesitated but followed slowly.  
  
"He should be home soon. Please sit" she said walking over to the kitchen and bar to brew some coffee. A gauss gun hung at her side with "V" carved in the handle. It looked worn but she looked like the kinda women who knew how to use it to the best of its ability and Dylan took mental note of that. He sat surprised at her hospitality but not daring to mention it.  
  
"V?" he said without thinking. She stilled and then looked at her gun momentarily.  
  
"Your very observant." She said continuing to watch the coffee maker percolate.  
  
"It's part of my job description." He said and she nodded. There was a brief lull where only the drip drops of the coffee was heard but she finally spoke up.  
  
"Vee is my name...as far as I know." She said somewhat quietly. She walked to the table with the crisp brown coffee that matched the smooth brown of her skin. She was a remarkably beautiful women with a radiant strength that made her sensual and exotic. She sat down at the table directly across from Dylan preparing her own cup of coffee. Her eye seemed sad suddenly.  
  
"So why do you want to speak with him now?" She said pouring the cream into her own coffee.  
  
"I've actually been looking for him for a long time...years even." Dylan said brushing back his hair and showing the age in his eyes. He looked tired and warn like he hadn't slept in all the years he was looking...determined to find him. There was a heavy knock on the door and the women grinned pleasantly. She stood and gracefully walked to the door, letting her hips sway rhythmically much to Dylan's delight  
  
"Who is it?" she asked playfully  
  
"It's me...your one and only." The voice came and Dylan's heart skipped a beat. Finally, finally Dylan would see him again after over 5 years of searching. The women giggled and opened the door and the cold whirled in. making the man in the doorway seem powerful and majestic. He stepped forward rubbing his hands together from the cold. He was completely covered from head to toe in thick black wool to keep the chill away. She quickly closed the door and helped him out of his black coat and hat. His hair stood spiky and blond and his eyes were still a piercing blue but that was all that was the same. Everything else had changed and he wasn't sure if it was for the better. He had a power to him that he never had before, an aura of authority and strength. His face was set ridged but always changed when he gazed at his girl. His eyes wondered his home passively until they landed on the blue eyed starship captain. Dylan sat frozen in his chair gripping the coffee mug tightly. He would always wake up every morning imagining what he would say when he found him again. He had practiced it in the mirror every morning but right now he was drawing a complete blank.  
  
"Harper?" he said and Harper stepped back immediately grabbing two huge modified gauss guns out of the waist of his pants and charged them up. Each nozzle was pointed directly at Dylan's head and he drew back. They were huge and heavy, far from the standard model.  
  
"Who do you think you are sittin' in MY house with MY girl sipping coffee like you own the place!? This is MY house!" he said gesturing to himself with one gun. The venom dripped from his words as he frowned deep. He was menacing...like nothing dylan had ever seen before. He was lean and muscular and his stance was wide. He looked wild and out of control and a fire burned behind his eyes of an angry tortured soul.  
  
"Honey please. Put the guns down." The slender black women said softly and Harper softened slowly.  
  
"But he's in here disrespecting me! Sitting in my chair...sipping from my cup like he belongs here!" He took a few steps forward on his short legs and Dylan raised his hands in surrender. In a quick motion Harper redirected his gun and shot the coffee mug making Dylan grunt with surprise and grasp his now bleeding hand. He didn't look in the least bit sorry for what he had done. He just stared with his guns raised high looking dark and dangerous. He looked sadistic...as if he enjoyed the pain and blood.  
  
"Get the fuck out!" He said.  
  
"Zee stop it! I invited him in cause he knows you from you past...he's a commonwealth captain." She said and his eyes widened for a second and he let his hands drop slowly. He gazed at Dylan...squinting.  
  
"You know me?" Harper said...his arms hanging to his sides but jittering...his trigger finger flexing.  
  
"Well I use to..." Dylan said pulling a piece of glass from the mug out of his hand with a grunt.  
  
"You don't remember me..." He grunted out trying to keep the blood from dripping.  
  
"I don't remember a lot of things." Harpers said with a frown like his words meant a lot more then he was willing or ready to say.  
  
"I'll see to his wounds Zee...you change out of those clothes." She said giving his shoulders a quick rub while he holstered his weapons. He slowly walked to the back of the home keeping an eye on Dylan until he finally disappeared into a room Dylan assumed to be the bedroom. Zee? He thought.  
  
"I'm sorry about that. He's always trigger happy after work." She said grabbing a med kit from a cabinet. It looked worn and old, with stains of blood smeared over the lid, fingerprints and handprints. She opened it and inside was a small jar of bullets...souvenirs it looked like. The supplies inside looked crude and not very sterile.  
  
"Don't worry...it looks awful...but it's better for me to dress your wounds with this then leave it open to the filthy air." She said gesturing to the invisible germs floating around and Dylan had to agree. She sat in the chair next to him at the table and dabbed his hand slowly with a wet cloth making him wince. Dylan felt this was his chance to learn more but before he could ask his burning questions she spoke up breaking the silence.  
  
"He's different isn't he?" She said focusing on dressing his now clean wound. Dylan nodded not really knowing how to pinpoint the obvious change.  
  
"A hard life will do that to you. He's been through a lot...we both have. I'm out of the game but he's still trapped in it. It's messing with his head...it messes with everyone's head." She said sadly her thick lips quivering. Dylan put his hand on hers and squeezed gently. She nodded accepting his support...even if he was a stranger.  
  
"What is "the game"?" Dylan asked.  
  
"It's none of your business." Came a cold voice. Harper sauntered out from the bedroom in a tight black tank and black cargo pants. His arms were strong and muscular but not overly so. His tough guy attitude that he exuded made you forget about his small stature...he seemed like a giant with all the confidence he was oozing. He walked up to the table setting both is weapons down on the table with a loud clunk that made Dylan wince but Vee looked calm. He turned the chair around backwards and straddled it. He slid one of the guns across the table and Dylan caught it before it clattered to the floor. There blue eyes met and Dylan looked confused.  
  
"Alright, I'm all ears. Tell me about me and if for a second I think you lying then I'm gonna pick up my gun and blow your brains out. That is unless you can get to yours first..." Harper said and Dylan laughed but soon realized that Harper wasn't joking at all. Vee gracefully stood, gathering her things and obviously trying to get out of the crossfire. She took the rest of her coffee and stood behind the bar. All Dylan could think of was how insane this was and how he had never pictured them meeting on these terms. Harper just stared at Dylan and Dylan was sure that no matter what he said right now Harper would grab that gun...  
  
TBC... 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: This is your life  
  
Sweat slowly beaded at Dylan's temples and the throb in his palm matched the pounding in his head. The smell of stale blood and sweet coffee filled his nostrils as he gazed into the cool blue of Seamus Harpers eyes that stared at him with an odd menacing calm, his hand resting on the table just inches away from his already charged weapon. Dylan swallowed hard ready to jump at his own gun, his muscles tensed but his eyes never wavered from Harpers.  
  
"Let's see, I don't know where to begin." Dylan said with a surprisingly steady voice. His voice covering how he really felt, covering for how truly scared he was that this might end in blood.  
  
"How about the beginning? I hear that's always a good place to start." Harper said with tight lipped sarcasm, his fingers twitching slightly.  
  
"Well, your name is Seamus Zelazney Harper and you were born on earth in a place called Boston" Dylan said but before he could settle into the story Harper reached for his gun with lightening speed. Dylan kicked back in his chair toppling over backwards just in time to see the blue discharge of harpers huge gun zoom past his head and hit the metal door behind him leaving a huge smoldering hole. The sound of the gun firing almost sounded like a cannon firing and it made Dylan's ears ring. Dylan rolled to his feet and lunged behind the couch, landing hard on his hip and wincing. Harper stood up quickly, his face stoic and solid. He looked rigidly calm as if he had done this so many times that he knew just how everything would end, as if this scene was so redundant it was boring.  
  
"You didn't let me finish my story." Dylan said wiping his forehead and trying to figure out what he was going to do, he was cornered. Dylan grabbed for his force lance but his side holster was empty.  
  
"Vee" he murmured remembering how he had let his guard down when she attended to his wound, Leaning over to comfort her, giving her the best opportunity to take his weapon. He swore under his breath.  
  
"I didn't like your story. It didn't start with once upon a time."  
  
"Well, you didn't have a once upon a time sorta life. You had a hard life." Dylan said peeking up from behind the couch and then quickly ducking back down as two shots came his way making the walls crumble and plaster rain down on him reveling the rusty metal frame of there house.  
  
"You weren't very open about your past but from what I know you had to struggle constantly for survival against maggog raids and neitzchean attacks. You had to live through the death of your cousins' because they were infested with maggog. Your family had to make the decision to kill them before the maggog hatched inside of them and that has always haunted you. You had to live through the death of your parents who died protecting you and from the age of 12 you lived by yourself, constantly running away from neitzchean slavers who wanted your intellect...but you refused to be caught, because then your parents death would've be in vein. Finally you got a break when a Bobby Jenson and a Miss Beka Valentine offered you a job that would take you away from earth and you took it. You got away from that place." Dylan said in almost one breath. He took the chance of peeking back up over the couch and he could see Harper deep in thought. Dylan decided to keep going.  
  
"You discovered that bobby was lying to Beka, smuggling weapons behind her back. She kicked bobby off and let you stay. You became like family, like brother and sister. There were other crew members too. There was a maggog believe it or not." He could hear Harper scoff which made him smile. It was a reaction the old Harper would have made.  
  
"His name was rev and he was a priest. You were always leery of him but you learned to respect him and to even care for him. Then there was Trance, A purple girl with a tail, no one knows who she is or where she came from. She was mysterious and you took a liking to her immediately. You two were like sibling, quibbling over little things but sticking up for each other when it counted." Dylan stood now in full view and Harper immediately positioned his gun at his head but he didn't fire.  
  
"I remember something else. Something you never told me but I picked up on. You had a rabbit's foot. You took it everywhere, it was your good luck charm and before every fight you'd rub it between your fingers. It meant a lot to you. You never talked about it but I could tell from the look in your eye when you touched it that it had a deep, deep meaning." Dylan said and Harper looked at Vee who was leisurely sipping her coffee behind the counter. She smiled at him warmly and nodded.  
  
"You remember some of this don't you?" Dylan said stepping from around the couch slowly.  
  
"In my dreams..." Harper whispered almost so low that Dylan didn't catch it. his eyes glistened with sadness. But his stance and body language did not change.  
  
"Beka agreed to perform a job for a nightsider called Genetex. The job was to pull an old commonwealth star ship away from the event horizon of a blackhole and to loot it for all it's worth. When you pulled the ship away and boarded it...that's when you met me, Dylan." He emphasized his name hoping that it might register in harpers mind but he had no such luck.  
  
"I hear you mutter these things in your dreams Zee. A purple girl, a magog you weren't afraid of. A huge ship with that insignia." She said pointing to the patch Dylan had on his sweater.  
  
"Give him a chance. Maybe this will help you get your memory back. How can it hurt you? If you don't like how it's going you can always shoot him." She said smoothly. Her silky hands gently running down the sides of his face. She lowered his gun and smiled at him and he struggled to smile back. He looked like his greatest battle was being waged in his mind. He didn't know what to believe, what was a memory or just a dream, what was fantastical and what was real. Harper relented under Vee's touch and slowly made his way to the table where he straddled it once again. Dylan made his way to his former seat, picking it up off the floor and sitting in it hesitantly. Vee sat just inches from Harper, she gently slid the gun out of his tense hand and holstered it for him. He didn't protest. She then rested her chocolate brown hands on Harpers pale hand and he seemed to relax even more. She looked like she was his glue, his sanity and his consious.  
  
"Let's try this again." She said. Dylan nodded and began again adding even more detail this time to what he knew of Harper's life. Harper seemed to remember some things but mostly everything drew a blank. All he could remember was what he had seen in his dreams, a purple girl, a big ship, and a friendly magog but nothing more. The images he had of them were just that, nothing more, no feelings, he couldn't remember there voices or the things that they had done, just old snapshots of things he thought were figments of his imagination until today. Dylan finally got to the end of his story and waited for Harpers reaction eagerly.  
  
"What happened? how did we lose track of each other?" Harper asked seeming to yearn for the life he had on the andromeda, as an engineer. His eyes lit up when Dylan had told him he was the fixit man, running around with a tool belt, a genius able to fix and build anything.  
  
"You and I went on a mission to infiltrate one of the Drago Katsov bases where they were holding Tyr prisoner. You accessed the main computer and downloaded key battle plans and ship designs and uploaded a nasty virus. While I searched the computer screens for Tyr's cell which was easy to find. Everything was running smoothly, it was easy. To easy. We got Tyr and were running to the evac point when Tyr suddenly stopped in his tracks. I still remember that moment. The smile on his face." Dylan closed his eyes. The events playing out in front of his eyes. The violence.  
  
"I could see Beka in the distance...waving her arms frantically screaming. "Dylan it's a Trap! Dylan it's a setup!" I looked back to see Tyr sink into the dense brush with a smirk lingering on his lips. We ran as hard and as fast as we could while Beka and Trance laid down cover fire. Bullets rained down on us coming from all directions. It wasn't long before they captured Beka and Trance and finally surrounded us. We stood back to back you and I, our weapons depleted. Tyr re-emerged from his hiding spot and I asked him why but all he did was laugh. He bestowed upon Beka and Trance the honor of choosing which one us to save...he said one of us had to die so the other may live." Dylan swallowed hard running his hands over his face to gather himself.  
  
"That moment went on forever, their eyes welling up with tears as they looked back and forth between us. Finally trance spoke up, she had made a decision. God I can still hear Beka screaming, fighting against the neitzcheans that held her back, calling for you over and over and right there with your back against mine, without any warning... I could hear a shot fired, I could feel your weight leaning heavy against me, your breath labored as you slid down, crumpling to the ground as if you body was void of bones." Dylan said, tears stinging his eyes.  
  
"After that they let us go...dragging your body with them. There was nothing we could do Harper...we thought you were dead...there was just too many of them." Dylan took a deep breath and continued staring at his hands.  
  
"After that day Beka was never the same, she withdrew from everyone, she never forgave trance for what she did." Dylan said, looking up to see harper's wavering eyes.  
  
"But you kept looking for him...even when you thought he was dead..." Vee asked questionably.  
  
"I thought you were dead up until 6 months later. We once again got into another entanglement with the Drago Katsov. We were winning when a ship we had never seen before appeared and fired on us with devastating weapons and amazing speed. It could also tesseract through space seeming to disappear and reappear at will. That's when I knew you were alive...only you would have the knowledge and sheer genius to build something like that. That's when I vowed to find you, that's when beka came back to life and now she's waiting anxiously on the andromeda for me to signal her, to tell her whether I found you or not."  
  
"What If don't want to be found? What if I don't want to remember?" Harper said balling his fists.  
  
"That life is gone now...what good would it be to remember it now?...just added torture!." Harper said abruptly getting up from his chair.  
  
"That life isn't gone. You can have it back! Just come with me and I'll show you that there is still a place up there for you!" Dylan said standing as well, pointing to the up to the orbiting andromeda, almost pleading for Harper to understand and to just see how much he is wanted. He couldn't lose him after he had just found him. Harper gazed at the clock on the wall, Dylan hadn't noticed its ticking until he had seen it then suddenly the sound of time slipping away drummed in his head agonizingly.  
  
"I've got work to do. Harper said walking over to his coat.  
  
"If I come back and your still here then we'll talk." He said. Without so much as zipping up his coat or putting on his hat he walked out into the blistering cold, closing the door solidly behind him. Vee looked after him in shock. Dylan didn't know what to make of the situation. He looked to Vee for some answers but she quickly got up from her seat and ran into her bedroom, leaving Dylan to his thoughts. He had never imagined Harper not wanted to come back. The andromeda was his home...wasn't it? Dylan pressed his neck communicator and was about to tell Beka that he had found Harper but he had changed when suddenly Vee reentered the room dressed in a black tight jump suit that hugged her every curve. She finished zipping up the collar that snugly covered her neck and swept her hair back into a clamp. She reached in her pocket and pulled out a necklace, it's silver chain dangling from her hand refracting the light. She squeezed it tight. Then she lovingly put it around her neck. There hung the rabbit's foot, a startling white fluff against her black clothes. She rubbed it between her fingers gazing down upon it.  
  
"I don't know exactly what it means but I could feel that it was important, special in some way. He gave it to me for luck and protection. He told me to carry it with me always, and when I was about to face overwhelming numbers and when fate and chance were against me, to hold it in my hand and squeeze it tight. I never knew what compelled him to tell me that...what compelled him to give it to me..." She said never meeting Dylan's eyes. She just stared at the rabbit's foot. She finally inhaled loudly and went about the task of strapping guns to her thighs and on either side of her chest. Then she commenced to strap knives on her legs. She sunk her feet into boots that ran half way up her shins and buckled each one with a loud click. Finally She grabbed her flowing cloak quickly wrapping it around her in one movement making her cape billow forth majestically before falling all around her. She lifted the hood over her dark locks and stood in front of the door.  
  
"Catch" she said tossing Dylan his forcelance with a flick of her wrist.  
  
"He's not gonna come back unless we bring him back." She said with a snarl.  
  
TBC 


	3. LAR part 3

Chapter 3: The Sad Truth  
  
Dylan held his forcelance tight in his bandaged hand still trying to figure out exactly what was happening. Everything seemed to be moving so fast and he felt rushed and disoriented. Vee tossed him his coat and stared at him waiting for him to get up so they could be on their way.  
  
"What do you mean he won't come back?" Dylan asked but without warning she opened the door and the cold air swirled in causing her cloak to blow around her like a cape in the wind. She almost looked like a beautiful bird of pray in flight. Dylan quickly put on his coat to ward off the cold noting that something about her wasn't quiet human...she seemed out of this world but Dylan couldn't put his finger on it. He hesitantly stepped out into the whirling snow that blew him back ferociously but Vee seemed to slice through the winds force with ease leaving Dylan trailing far behind. They walked for what seemed like miles before Vee finally made it to what looked like a big metal barn, she struggled to slide back the thick metal door that was frozen shut. Dylan finally made it to her chattering and licking his chapped lips. He pushed with her until the door finally broke away and slide back with a scraping moan. Inside was dark and cold and Dylan squinted trying to adjust his eyes. Before him was something astonishing, it looked both sleek and cumbersome at the same time. It was big, and metal just like everything else in this rundown town but this had a much different flare of ingenuity and reckless power. He gazed at it longer remembering it being called an automobile, but this one seemed more rugged then the ones he had seen in his history books. It looked modified and stronger then the sputtering machines of the past.  
  
"What is this thing?" He asked looking it over and resting his hand on the huge cold grill. He was amazed at just how tall it was, seeming to look down on him ominously.  
  
"It's a contraption Zee built. He calls it a car...I call it Nancy." She said rubbing it slowly. She opened the car door and got in. she started up the engine and the metallic beast vibrated with life. The bright headlights snapped on and shown in Dylan's eyes and he covered his face from the barrage. Vee gazed out of the windshield with annoyance.  
  
"You getting in or what?" she snarled. Dylan shook off his shock and pulled himself into the mammoth vehicle she had named Nancy which was a very odd name for something that looked so tough. Vee adjusted her seat and then reached up to tap the huge plush dice that hung on the rearview mirror. The furry red dice swayed rhythmically and she watched intently. They finally came to a stop and she smiled.  
  
"Snake eyes. You better hold on." She said switching gears with a loud click. The car surged forward and roared out of the barn like the angry metal beast that is was, set on the task of ravaging anything in its path. She held the wheel tight her eyes never deviating from the road, her face solid and focused. Dylan watched as the poor town's people leapt out of the way of the speeding car shaking their fists angrily. The car shook and rattled as it jumped over embankments and fishtailed on ice patches but she looked well in control skillfully maneuvering the car and shifting gears with sharp jerks of her right hand.  
  
"What, what's going on...where are we going and what do you mean Harper won't come back unless we bring him back?" Dylan said in a rush grimacing as the car fishtailed wildly to the left and the engine roared and rumbled in response as she frantically turned the wheel to compensate with a sneer on her lips.  
  
"He's had a hard time Dylan, the game has him and that's all he can see, this is his life now and he's afraid that if he's taken from it that it will land him back at square one. He's afraid of waking up again to an unfamiliar world." She said making another sharp turn which made Dylan yelp in surprise. She threaded a tight alleyway, the side mirrors sparking wildly as they scrapped along the metal walls of the two buildings creating an unbearable sound but she didn't even flinch. They finally made it out of the alleyway and out onto what Dylan guessed was a road. The windshield wipers worked diligently shoving the falling snow back and forth as the spinning wheels sprayed snow on the homeless street urchins trying to warm by their barrel fires.  
  
"He wants a life that wants him. One that he knows he can keep and won't forget and he thinks the life he has right now is it. You have to convince him that there is more up there in that ship of yours." She said. Dylan sat quietly unsure of how to make Harper believe that his whole life was in orbit around the planet. Everything was waiting for him, they had refused to touch any of his things, his room is how he left it and so is his favorite machine shop and Beka continued to stock up on sparky cola in hopes that one day we'd find him and she could see his face light up at a storage hold filled with his favorite drink. Dylan's eyes began to water just thinking about all the pain losing Harper had caused them, the psychological anguish they all had suffered. How could he make Harper understand just how much they loved him, how much they needed him? How could he make him want to remember?  
  
"I believe you Captain Dylan hunt. I believe that he had a better life up there in the stars. Anything is better then this...anything." She trailed off and Dylan knew she was referring to what she called "the game".  
  
"What is the game?"  
  
"It's what we play." She said as the car suddenly jerked violently to a stop. Dylan looked around to see that they were just millimeters from a steep cliff. Below them sat a city which looked much more prestigious then the slum they had just come from. The buildings sat tall and pretty with lights on in every window nestled in what looked like a big crater.  
  
"A game of chance. Our job is to take orders and leave no one alive. Zee is the best and everyone knows it so it wasn't odd that he was the first to be asked to go on a mission to execute a key diplomatic leader by the name of Caranova. He's visiting here to stir up public relations for his campaign to become president over these 6 united planets. Our employer feels that if Caranova wins the election that he would lose his pull over this system and that doesn't sit well with him."  
  
"Is that the mission Harper is on right now, To kill a diplomat?" Dylan said in shock, what had Harper become? Was he an assassin?  
  
"Yes it is, but our employer is very fond of Zee...he's the man who found him, took him in from the cold, and trained him to be the best. He thinks of Zee as his son and in turn Zee thinks of him as his father. He knew this was a suicide mission so he gave Zee a choice to either take this mission or decline with no penalty, he didn't want to see him killed. I pleaded for Zee to decline and he did, but I think now he went back on his word." Vee said staring thoughtfully ahead at a cluster of tall buildings. She kept her hood on trying to hide her emotions but Dylan could feel the pain radiating off of her.  
  
"He's angry, confused and scared, I know he is...and right now he's taking more risks then ever. I know he's just waiting for that choice bullet to blanket his world but I'm not gonna allow it!" She said staring into my eyes...her brown eyes wavering with unshed tears.  
  
"You ready?" Vee said charging all of her weapons. She then took the rabbits foot in hand, rubbed it and brought it to her lips. She kissed it slightly and let it drop back onto her chest. Dylan didn't like this one bit and his morals tugged at him. He couldn't stand by and watch Harper slaughter a political leader because his employer didn't like him. He had to find a way to talk some sense into him...  
  
"What's the plan?" Dylan asked.  
  
"There's never a plan when the dice read snake eyes." She said stepping out of the car. Dylan was about to protest when an explosion of mammoth proportions lit up the sky with bright orange and red. They watched the debris and dust fall like rain as one of the building imploded onto themselves, toppling down to the earth's surface with an animalistic roar. The sound of gunfire and blood curdling scream could be heard next.  
  
"That must have been Dee with the on...we can't be late." She said running down the steep cliff toward the action. Dylan slipped and stumbled down the cliff after her determined to figure out how she was gonna get Harper out of there. He wasn't sure that he was willing to become involved in the unnecessary battle. She suddenly stopped and Dylan caught up with her at a frantic dash. He double over, grabbing his knees out of breath noting that running in snow was extremely difficult.  
  
"One more thing. That neitzchean you call Tyr...what's his last name?" She asked.  
  
"Anasazi" Dylan said  
  
"Tyr anasazi...of Kodiak pride...oh Zee, hang in there" she said quietly before dashing off again. Dylan was utterly confused but dashed off after her kicking up snow. Vee ducked behind a building and pulled a small pocket communicator out of her pocket as explosions filled the sky like fireworks and some of Caranova's armed guards marched by.  
  
"Dee come in" she said quietly  
  
"Whoa...Vee...didn't know you were in on this one" A man with a rough voice responded.  
  
"I'm here for Zee, where is he."  
  
"Last time I saw he was leading a frontal assault on the Caranova's personal Calvary up around the state building. We're trying to hold back the soldiers but they keep coming out of the woodwork."  
  
"Frontal assault? Damn, that's not his usual style"  
  
"Tell me about it, I don't know what's going on but whatever it is I wouldn't get in the way...he's really kicking some ass out there...and that's saying something." The man said and Vee nodded.  
  
"I have to stop him, he's gonna get himself killed."  
  
"We've got a lot of fire on us so I can't stay and chat but hey...be careful out there girly...Dee out" The communicator went dead and Vee looked around the building to see that the coast was clear.  
  
"Follow me" she ran off in the direction of the explosions with Dylan in tow. It didn't take long for them to make there way to their destination. Fires burned hot while yellow and blue discharges flew through the air from various weapons on the noisy battleground. The loud crack of grenades and explosives could be heard as the grunts of pain and exhaustion rang out from all who were involved in this war. I could hear orders being barked in the distance by a familiar voice and my eyes landed on a blond spiky haired man.  
  
"There he is." she said. Harper was dressed in a one-piece jumpsuit much like Vee's with huge strapped boots adorning his feet. He wore a trench coat that blew in the wind and a black scarf wrapped around his mouth and nose that waved in the chilled wind. He casually walked with his arms fully extended in front of him as he sprayed gunfire with startling accuracy. Each shot hitting its target, His two modified guns smoking from the rapid fire. The guns made a mechanical sound telling him they were empty. He quickly flipped to the left and hid behind a huge chunk of debris.  
  
"Cover me!" he shouted as the enemies fire chipped away at his concrete cover. The rest of Harpers team kneeled down in the snow like the red coat British Calvary of the olden days, laying down cover fire. Slowly they were picked off by the opposition, falling down dead one by one until only a few remained. Harper threw down his exhausted weapons, reached behind his head and into his coat and pulled out a huge double barrel laser shotgun that seemed to dazzle and glint in the moonlight. His movement's seemed to be in slow motion as he jumped up from behind the pile of debris dragging the gigantic gun with him. He held the oversized weapon with two hands cocked it, loading the chamber. Then he squeezed the trigger making him recoil at the sheer force of the guns power. It sounded like a cannon as it shot off two blue beads of light that zoomed through the air and hit an enemy soldier square in his chest sending him flaying back and smashing into a near by window. Harper cocked the gun again sending the spent shell falling to the ground at his feet while he sent off another devastating shot. He walked forward, bullets whizzing past him, drilling holes in his trench coat that waved behind him like a flag. Each of his shots rang out and echoed as he picked up a rhythm, click clack boom, click clack boom. Soldier after soldier fell in his wake as he made his way closer to the state building where he knew Caranova was hiding, but soon even that gun ran out. There were only a handful of Caranova's squad left and Harper threw down his depleted shotgun. He stood with his coat blowing back looking like swiss cheese, His stance wide his eyebrows knitted together in anger. He lifted the collar of his coat to his mouth eyeing the soldiers before him who were awaiting his next move.  
  
"Fall back. I can handle this." He spoke smoothly to any members of his team who were still alive  
  
"But you're out of ammo!" Dee yelled over Harpers com with exasperation.  
  
"Since when have I needed ammo?" He said with a hearty laugh letting his collar go and cutting off the conversation.  
  
"He's a fool!" Vee shrieked as Harper reached into his boots and pulled out two knives each one with a sharp curved tip. He fisted the knives tight and smiled.  
  
"Take your best shot." He said. The troops raised their guns and Harper made a break, quickly running toward them as the bullets peppered the snow at his feet. He jumped into the air coming down with his knife plunging it deep into the enemies chests while kicking another creating a domino effect and knocked them all off balance. He bent down and grabbed the dead man's gun by the barrel leaving his knife deep in his foes chest cavity. He went about the task of taking them out two by two a knife in one had and a gun in the other. He used moves Dylan had never seen before using his small stature to his advantage, twisting and flipping out of danger and into the best position to jab his knife deep into there neck or chest. He moved quick and agile like a cat stabbing and pistol whipping them all into submission. Finally there was only one soldier left and Harper stared at him. The field was littered with bodies, and blood spread in the snow.  
  
"Where's Caranova" He said sternly but the soldier spit at him instead. Harper wiped his face and laughed.  
  
"You must want to die." He said twirling his knife like a baton.  
  
"So do you." A voice boomed from behind him. Harper stilled.  
  
"Caranova, how good to see you. I was just asking about you." Harper said slowly turning around with his hands raised in the air. The once last surviving soldier took Harper's knife and gun and joined his comrades. Harper took in the whole scene...there were at least 30 more henchmen and Caranova stood frowning at the top of the buildings steps.  
  
"Anasazi sent you didn't he?" The man sneered.  
  
"Actually I'm just here for the thrill, had to get some things off my chest." Harper said staring at Caranova. Dylan looked to Vee who had pulled out her pocket communicator. She tapped a button on the side using old mores code that cracked on Harper's collar communicator just loud enough for him to hear. Zee ran his hands through his spiky snow dampened hair with a smile.  
  
"That's the signal. We move in now!" she said shoving Dylan forward.  
  
"I want you to meet someone." Zee said and just as soon as he did two of Caranova's guards were taken down by gun fire to his left. That gave Harper his much needed diversion and he leapt forward wrenching his knife and gun away from the soldier and breaking his neck in one fluid motion.  
  
"No one left alive..." he said rolling to the side and throwing his knife into the neck of another one of Caranova's henchmen. Harper quickly stood propping the man up, using him as a human shield. The man's body rocked with the bullets they sent flying Harpers way and blood splattered his coat and face but Harper looked unfazed. Vee charged with a roar both of her guns firing like an automatic weapon, obviously modified by Harper. She quickly mowed down half of the opposition, each shot perfect in accuracy. Dylan ducked and rolled sending off shots of his own and taking out men with well placed kicks and punches. Finally the last man dropped to his knees with a sickening gargle and Harper whipped off his bloody blade. His eyes landed on Vee for just mere seconds but Dylan could see an 'I'm sorry' shinning in them. He looked away and casually walked up the stoop and stood in front of Caranova who was trying to hide his fear but his shaking hands told only the truth.  
  
"Let me introduce you." Harper said slipping on a pair of brass knuckles while the man watched and sweated.  
  
"This is my wife Vee and some captain guy named Dylan, and this will be the last thing you will ever see." Harper said and then revved back his fist and hit the man in his stomach. He doubled over coughing up blood, Harper didn't hesitate and kneed him in the face sending the man toppling backward and down the icy stairs. He slid in the snow and laid there still and unconscious. Dylan finally shook away the shock and screamed out.  
  
"You're gonna kill him in cold blood?!"  
  
"It's what I do." Harper said intent on finished what he had started.  
  
"It doesn't have to be..." Dylan said remembering the engineer he use to know who had a heart of gold, who wanted to help people not cause so much carnage. Dylan looked around the battlegrounds, There was so much death. If this was the game Dylan most certainly didn't want to play.  
  
"Shut up! I'm not in the mood to hear your lies! He wouldn't do that to me..." Harper said angrily grabbing Caranova's collar ready to plunge his knife deep into his chest.  
  
"Are you sure Zee?" Vee spoke up and Harper shook his head trying to hold back the emotion.  
  
"I'm sure! He wouldn't do that to me! He cares about me..."  
  
"Wake up Zee! The evidence is clear! Our employer...Tyr Anasazi of Kodiak pride is the same man who betrayed you, took you away from your life in the stars, wiped your memory and enslaved you. But you already knew that didn't you? You knew it the minute Dylan said his name and described him to you. So you ran away and came out here to kill yourself!" She said letting her emotions surface on her face. She looked pained and Dylan could see how much she truly loved him.  
  
"Why would he take care of me then...he gave me a home...he taught me everything I know! I don't understand." Harper muttered rocking back and forth on his knees in the snow.  
  
"After he took your knowledge he probably saw your potential as an assassin. I know Tyr Anasazi and he's just using you." Dylan said.  
  
"When I thought I couldn't trust anyone and when no one was on my side I looked to him for help and he was always there..." Harper said in disbelief.  
  
"After you built the ships he wanted he must have wiped your memory and pretended to be your savior so he could turn you into his own personal assassin." Dylan said piecing it all together. He was astonished at the evil of his former crewmember how could he do something so sinister to Harper? The man he had once lovingly called 'the little professor'.  
  
"Everything has been a lie, my life is a lie." Harper said, his face balling up with pain, the tears threatening to fall.  
  
"You can come with me Harper...leave all of this behind and regain the life he stripped from you. He isn't your friend Harper, he isn't you father. Your father is the man that sacrificed his life so you could have one, so you wouldn't be a slave to anyone. Don't stay here and stay a slave Harper..."  
  
"I have to kill him first...I can't leave anyone alive." Harper said struggling with his thoughts, and his programming.  
  
"NO! Listen to me Harper!" Dylan yelled and Harper stilled with his knife held high in the air. His now wet hair lying shaggy in his eyes.  
  
"Vee told me that this guy is threatening Tyr's empire and his hold over this system and that's why he wants him dead, but what better way to stop Tyr's evil and to get your revenge then to protect this guy and ensure he wins this election." Dylan said and the world seemed to freeze while Harper thought. His hand finally relented and it dropped the knife which sunk deep into the snow blood soaked snow.  
  
"Is there really a place up there for a person like me? I'm not who I use to be, you keep calling me Harper...but I don't even know who that is " He said looking at all the snow stained in blood. He had done so much damage, had slain so many.  
  
"There is always a place on the andromeda for you ...always." Dylan said and Harper closed his eyes and raised his face to the heaven's...letting the snowflakes fall in his river of tears.  
  
TBC... 


	4. LAR chapter 4

Wow! i'm really glad you guys like this story! your review are so nice and nice review always give me incentive to write more!! Ok guys here's the next part! enjoy!

Chapter 4: The Get Away  
  
The unconscious diplomat lay slung over Dylan's shoulder as they made their way back to the car known as Nancy. Harper lagged behind with his eyes staring at Vee's rigid back, he knew she was upset just because of how tight her shoulders looked. Her walk wasn't as smooth anymore and her hips didn't sway so heavenly. He kept walking but he could feel cold eyes peered out from around the broken ruins of the now fire doused section of the city. He was walking away with Caranova, their mark, and the rest of his surviving team didn't know why and he wasn't exactly sure why either. The assassins aptly named after letters of the alphabet just watched Harper walk by too afraid to challenge him, even though they knew the legendary guns that were strapped to hips and the shotgun strapped to his back were empty, they knew that Harper was just as deadly with knives. One brave voice yelled out over the roar of the winds and Harper stilled. Vee and Dylan stopped and turned, Vee's eyes pleaded for Harper to just keep walking and to ignore that familiar voice.  
  
"Are you turning your back on Tyr? He will not be pleased. He'll punish us all for failure! Are you just gonna leave us all to that fate?!" the voice rang out, His word dripping with venom. Harpers eyes once again looked up to the heavens, he squinted to see the twinkling stars through the falling snow, the horizon looking just as hot and red as the burning fires all around him as the sun began it's daily routine, but oddly the frozen city didn't feel any warmer. Maybe he was hoping to see the gray shine of the vessel that held his life, or maybe he was just lifting his eyes away from the pain of reality but none the less his eyes were lifted high, searching for something.  
  
"Your fate is your own." He finally said never turning to look at his former comrade who had bravely stepped out of hiding to confront him. The man's jaw was set tight and his hand gripped his holstered gun, obviously not liking Harpers answer. His stubbly 5'oclock shadow gathered drifting snow as he chewed on a bright orange wire, obviously from one of his bombs he had set up during the battle. Normally Harper would have never left himself vulnerable to anyone, especially a trained assassin, but he kept his back turned trusting Dee not to shoot him in the back. He had worked along the explosives expert for years and he knew the man was honorable.  
  
"Don't be a slave forever Dee, one of these days you're gonna have to make a choice. The same choice I'm making now." Harper whispered and began walking again. Dee took two giant steps and pressed his gun deep into Harper's back making him freeze but he didn't seem fazed at all by the turn of events. Vee quickly reacted and the buzz of her gun charging got Dee's attention but he didn't back down. Dee stared menacingly at Vee over Harper's shoulder.  
  
"Don't do this Dee, you owe me. You owe me your life, or have you forgotten?." Harper said through gritted teeth and Dee frowned remembering events from the past, a time when Harper had faced overwhelming odds to save his life. With his lips close to Harper's ear he whispered.  
  
"I do owe you, that's why I'll give you a head start. Ten minutes Zee...use them wisely." Dee stepped back giving Harper room to turn to him.  
  
"That's all I can give you. Like you said Zee, my fate is my own and I choose not to die by Tyr's hand. In ten minutes I'm gonna call Tyr and tell him the situation, undoubtedly he'll ask me to hunt you down...." Dee said just stating the facts, he didn't look like he would enjoy this one bit but he knew it had to be done.  
  
"I will hunt you down without mercy and I will not spare Vee." Dee said and Harper's eyes widened. He squinted at Dee holding his green eyed gaze.  
  
"The countdown begins now." Dee said pushing a small button on his watch. Harper stared a little longer hearing the diminutive tick tock of Dee's stop watch. Time was dwindling fast but Harper couldn't move, he just stared at his comrade and he smiled back at him sincerely. Harper smirked back with a shimmer of understanding in his eyes. It was their way of saying good luck and with that Harper turned on his heels and ran realizing that this was the final decision. He felt a burning in his chest knowing that it was now him against Tyr and his men, or more accurately him against his fabricated life. Dee pulled his communicator out of his pocket and leisurely sat down on a large piece of debris. He spit out the loose wire and lit a cigar watching Harper's retreating form as the rest of the team gathered at his side waiting to make the call that would launch them into action. Harper, Vee and Dylan, charged the steep hill and Harper was impressed that Dylan could keep up while carrying the dead weight of Caranova. Harper jumped in the front seat and Dylan sat in the back, placing the unconscious diplomat beside him. Vee started up the car with a loud roar and drove in reverse. She held on to the passenger seat, looking out the back window and threading the alleyway in reverse with amazing skill. The side mirrors screeched just like before but the pound of panic in their ears dulled the shrill. She made a sharp turn as soon as they left the alley swinging the car around and leaving dark black tire marks on the road as she straightened up, shifted gear and sent the car flying down the snow covered street toward home.  
  
"We shouldn't be going to your house! We should head straight for the Maru!" Dylan said grabbing hold of the front seat to hiss at Harper.  
  
"There's something at the house that we can't leave behind." Harper said calmly. His wife sat beside him, her determination unfaltering.  
  
"Your house is the first place they'll look, is this something more important then your lives?" Dylan said with exasperation, as the car rocked and teetered over piles of snow and slush.  
  
"I don't know...but I can't leave it behind." Harper said giving Vee a quick glance which she returned with a frown that Harper noted but didn't comment on. Time wasn't on there side as they finally made it to their abode. Before she could even stop the car Harper jumped out and took off toward the house. Vee jumped out of her side of the car and promptly popped the trunk.  
  
"You said that the Maru was a cargo ship...how big are the cargo holds?" she asked Dylan who was now standing beside her watching the road for any signs of the angry hit men.  
  
"umm...I don't know...big." Dylan said with confusion wondering how that was relevant to the situation at hand. They had been confusing him a lot lately."  
  
"Let's just hope your idea of big is the same as mine." She said  
  
"Wait here..." She said, unable to wait anymore she joined her husband in the house. The wait was unbearable, time ticked away as Dylan stood by the black car watching out for an attack. His thoughts were frantic, he thought about how he imagined his reunion with Harper would have gone much differently. He had imagined rescuing him from the Drago Katsov, imagined him being happy to see him, glad to be back, ready to get back to the job he loved so much but instead Dylan had found a man so drastically different that he wasn't sure the name Seamus Zelazny Harper even belonged to him anymore. A glimmer hit his eye up the road and it was moving fast.  
  
"We've got company!!" Dylan shouted and just as he did Harper and Vee ran out with armfuls of weapons.  
  
"This was worth your lives!" Dylan spat.  
  
"No, that's just reinforcements. This is what's important." Harper said tossing the sleek weapons into the truck but holding on to a medium sized metal case. It didn't look heavy because he held it with ease and Dylan's mind quickly tried to imagine what could be so important in a box that size. Was it money? Dylan's mind suddenly lost all cohesion as his eyes widened without his permission. They started to glaze over as his knees weakened. He looked down to see red soaking into his black shirt turning it to a murky violet color that was spreading across the material. Dylan looked at Harper in shock teetering forward.  
  
"Dylan!" Vee screamed grabbing him before he fell face first in the snow. Blood quickly covered her hands as she tried to add pressure on the gushing wound on his right side right underneath his ribs.  
  
"God damnit! Only Cee could hit a target from that far away! If Cee's in on this, then this won't be a picnic." Harper said helping Dylan into the car. Vee guided Dylan's hand to the messy wound.  
  
"Put pressure here ok." He nodded out of breath and she took the time to give him a soft smile, telling him without words that they'd get out of this alive. She quickly patted Dylan's shoulder and jumped into the driver's side of the car. She put her hand on the ignition key and Harper reached over putting his hand on hers, noticing how it was shaking.  
  
"This isn't gonna be easy, but we're gonna make it." He said. Suddenly the back window was blown in with a huge crash sending the fractured glass flying forward. Her foot instinctively mashed down one the gas and the car surged forward. Harper turned in his chair to see Dylan paling and sweating as the blood ran down his side and pooled on the leather chair.  
  
"Dylan I need you to focus ok..." Harper said slowly and calmly.  
  
"ok..." Dylan slurred his head feeling heavy and his eyes going in and out of focus.  
  
"What are the Maru's access codes?"  
  
"5...7...." Dylan said then trailed off.  
  
"Come on Dylan focus...this is important. I need to know the Maru's access codes." Harper said more firmly.  
  
"5768213" Dylan said and Harper made a quick mental note of it. He turned back in his chair and looked at Vee.  
  
"Where almost there...but they are seriously gaining on us. At this rate we aren't gonna make it." Vee said and Harper looked into the rear view mirror. They had oversized snow buggies that were built specifically for speed and maneuverability but Harper had built Nancy to withstand anything, today would be the test.  
  
"Don't worry, I've got a plan." Harper said reaching in the pocket of his trench coat. He pulling out several gun clips he had picked up at the house. He quickly loaded all his guns but when it came to his shotgun he did something very different. He quickly dismantled it and reassembled it differently making it look like a totally different machine. He leaned out of the car window, aimed and then fired sending a small heat seeking missile down the enemy's throat. The cart in the very front exploded into flames tumbling backward and smashing into the other buggies behind it. Three of the modified snowmobiles smashed and burned but two from the rear were able to avoid the collision and stayed hot on their tail. Harper gazed at the damage but the twinkle of a sniper riflescope hit his eye. Harper gasped and tried to duck back into the car but before he could a shot rang out and hit him in his shoulder jarring it out of the socket. The bullet went clean through the other side of his shoulder and he leaned back in his chair grunting in agony. He held his left shoulder as the blood ran down his back and his eyes glazed in pain.  
  
"That's the only shot I've got...I slowed them down some but you're gonna have to put the petal to the metal Vee." Harper grunted. Vee looked at him with worry in her eyes but she knew her first priority was the road and her management of the car.  
  
"Your enjoying this" Harper said with a smirk trying to forget the pain.  
  
"I love my job...what can I say..." she said smiling back, making a sharp turn and navigating up a steep incline. Nancy chugged up the hill but was taking it like the beast she was covering ground at an 90 miles an hour pace but the snow buggies were still on their ass. The roads edge was on Harpers side of the car and he studied the landscape looking for the Maru.  
  
"There it is!" she shouted nodding down over the roads edge to the Maru nestled in the trees below. Harper holstered all his weapons and quickly turned his rocket launcher back into a shotgun, grimacing at the searing pain in his shoulder the whole time. The road curved around a large landmass giving the following buggies no view of them.  
  
"Ok now!" Vee shouted and Harper opened his door and jumped out falling over the roads edge and rolling in the snow. He rolled head over foot for several yards before coming to a sick stop. He grunted as he looked down at his leg. It didn't look broken but something was defiantly wrong, pain shot up through his leg and to the middle of his spine. He breathed out the pain and leaned heavily against a tree clawing his way up to a standing position. He looked up the hill he had just tumbled down and saw his shiny creation swerving and dodging the procession of hit men climbing higher and higher up the huge winding mountain.  
  
"Hang in there Vee." He whispered. Drops of blood trailed behind him as he limped his way to the Maru. He used the trees as support but still he fell and tumbled in the snow only to have to clinch his teeth and lift himself up again. He could feel that his body was in need of urgent care, every nerve ending was on fire...his body was on the verge of collapse, the fall had taken it's toll. He could hear gunfire and he gasped. She must have gotten cornered he thought trying to pick up his pace but it shot waves of nausea and agony through his body. He was so close now but his body was ready to give up, he bore down and hobbled to the Maru completely out of breath and feeling broken all over. He keyed in the code to gain access to the Maru and the doors slid open without hesitation. The ship was dark and musty but didn't feel so strange. It felt cozy...but he didn't have time to sink into his emotions. He had to act. He limped to the pilot's chair sputtering and coughing with tears of anguish in his eyes. He lifted his collar to speak to Vee.  
  
"Vee, Vee come in." he spoke weakly, but when he got no response he panicked and adrenalin poured into his tired veins.  
  
"VEE! Please!" But once again he got nothing in response. He clinched his fist and grabbed the controls with a renewed vigor, his pain now forgotten.  
  
"Should be just like riding a bike." He said with hollow smile, flipping switches and turning knobs.  
  
Vee came to an abrupt stop, two boisterous buggies were in front of her and one was behind. They had cornered her but she had given them a run for their money. To her right was a building and to her left was the roads edge what was a steep cliff and the drop seemed to go on for days and days. She gazed at it sizing up the fall but she knew right away that if she went off that cliff they'd all crash and burn. Dylan moaned in the backseat and she looked in the rear view mirror waiting to see his eyes cloud over with death. Everything was silent and all she could hear was her ragged breaths and purr of her tired engines. She slowly slid her hand down off the steering wheel to reach for her gun but just as she did a shot was fired shattering the windshield and grazing her right cheek. She laid her hand back on the steering wheel grimacing and marveling at the accuracy of the shot. A dark crimson drop ran down her cheek from the horizontal cut.  
  
"Cee, don't do this" she said more to herself then anyone else. Over her communicator that sat in her pocket she could hear her love screaming for her but she couldn't lower her hands to respond. She closed her eyes wondering if this was it. She looked up at the red dice on the mirror that still read snake eyes and frowned.  
  
"Vee, be a good girl and hand over Caranova." Dee yelled from his rumbling snow cart, a cigar still hanging from his lips. She didn't say anything just stared at the men. The buggy behind her revved up and bumped her car sharply sending Dylan toppling to the floor with a thud and a torturous moan. Her hair splashed over her face but she didn't dare smooth it back with her hand for fear of another shot being sent her way. She looked at the men through the shaggy strands of her hair knowing that she was truly trapped. Dee stepped out of his car followed by Cee and Two men she didn't recognize. The men in the buggy behind her piled out as well and she counted a total of 6 men. They strolled up to the car and Dee peered through her driver's side window leaning on the window frame and taking a puff of his cigar.  
  
"Sorry girly, but I'm not ready to die." He said rubbing his thumb along her cheek wiping off the syrupy blood. The man named Cee circled the car anxiously. He was slinder with then a thin sharp face and long black hair he kept in a loose bow. His eyes were sharp, just as sharp as his aim, a turqouis pierce of color.  
  
"Where's Zee, he's not in the car!" Cee finally spoke up and a small smile crept across Vee's chocolate face.  
  
"What?" Dee said quickly eyeing the car and the surrounding area.  
  
"Damnit! Zee show yourself or I won't hesitate to put a bullet in her head!" Dee shouted letting his voice echo off or the surrounding buildings. All his men stood ready with guns in their hands and fear in there eyes. Suddenly a rumble could be heard gradually getting louder in intensity. Their eyes looked toward the cliff and up rose a vast brown metal machine. The men gawked in surprise, thrown completely off guard. They quickly realized it was a ship as it continued to rise but it was too late. With the ship rose Harper standing in the open docking bay with his two guns already aimed and ready. As soon as his eyes made contact with his targets he shot off round after round hitting the fuel tanks of the buggies with pinpoint accuracy. They exploded sending fire blossoming into the sky. Vee took that opportunity to maneuver her car sending the men diving for cover as she masterfully maneuvered Nancy. she drove toward the building to her right and then swung the car around recklessly until it was facing the open docking bay. She didn't have much time to pick up speed and she knew it but she was confident that she could make it; she had to make this jump. Harper continued to shoot leaning against the frame of the bay doors heavily. Vee took a deep breath and kissed the rabbit's foot.  
  
"If there was anytime I needed your help...it's now" she said. She stomped down on the gas and the car zoomed forward. She gritted her teeth as sweat beaded on her forehead. The cliff was coming up fast but the car was continuing to pick up speed.  
  
"Come on baby, give me some more!" She said mashing down with all her might. Harper watched with worry as the car zipped over the ground and flew into the air, through the windshield he could see Vee bearing down, her hair flowing around her as the wind blew through the broken windshield. Harper leapt out of the way as the car soared like a bird landing hard into the docking bay. The wheels blew at contact and the metal rims sparked on the Maru's metal floor. The car spun out of control and slid sidelong, skidded to a stop before hitting the back of the bay. Harper pulled himself up yelping at the pain in his leg and spine. He forcefully mashed a big red button and the doors hissed and begun to close slowly shutting out the frantic, fiery scene below. His eyes landed on Dee's and they stared at each other thoughtfully. Dee nodded to him with respect. It wasn't the kind of respect that meant he wasn't going to track him down later; it was the kind of respect that let him know that Dee knew he was the best. As soon as the bay fully closed he ran to the smoking vehicle. Vee still clutched the wheel barely breathing.  
  
"You ok? Vee! Vee say something!" He said grabbing the side of her face with his good arm and smoothing her dark shiny hair behind her ear.  
  
"lucky 7" she said looking at the dice, her face unreadable.  
  
"What are you gawkin' at me for! Hurry and get Dylan to the andromeda. He needs medical attention ASAP." She said trying to be strong but Harper knew she was shaken and he really didn't blame her. She had just performed a feat that deserved serious recognition later. Harper leaned in and kissed her cheek and hobbled for the bridge. He jumped over the railing, his trench coat trailing behind, and landed firmly in the pilot's chair running on pure adrenaline and luck. He buckled in and grabbed the controls. He pulled them back and the Maru began to climb. He opened a channel with hesitation knowing that for the first time he would be communicating to his former family.  
  
"Andromeda Ascendant this is the Eureka Maru requesting dock." Harper said suddenly feeling woozy from the loss of blood and the intense pain from his back was slamming into his nerve endings.  
  
"Harper?!" came the sudden gasp of a women with tears in her voice but he was too tired to respond. As they broke through the planets atmosphere he could see a shimmer of gray ahead that looked like a bright heavenly star. He smiled gazing at it through his foggy blue orbs.  
  
"lucky 7" he said before his eyes fluttered and then fell...darkening his world.  
  
TBC...


	5. LAR chapter 5

Goodie! More reviews! With this part I wanted to give more of a background story to Zee and Vee's first meeting and show what kind of relationship Tyr and Harper had. I'll probably have more of their past in the next chapter as well. I hope you enjoy!  
  
Jenben, I'm glad your liking Vee ( I wanted to make a strong female character but not one that's flawless or a "marysue".  
  
Chapter 5: The Negotiator  
  
Harper could sense frantic commotion all around him. His ears picked up a women's voice barking orders but he couldn't place a face. There was a thick ozone of smoke and smog but he was to weak to cough.  
  
"Oh my god! Harper can you hear me! Harper!" he heard as shivering hands held his face. He opened his eyes and blinked trying to clear the blur to no avail. Before him kneeled a blond woman with radiant blue eyes. She looked worried and the first thing that came to his mind was 'mother' but she was too young to be his mother, which confused him. She ran her hands over his face and through his hair with tears in her eyes and an expression of happy anguish. Her mouth moved but her words were to slow and distorted for him to understand.  
  
"Hang in there ok! Please!" she said unable to take her hands off of him for even a second, afraid that he'd just disappear and she'd wake up from whatever dream this was, alone and without him once again. She wrestled with the seat belt and finally unlocked it making Harper teeter forward and she steadied him. His eyes began to close again and she noticed that her hand was in something warm and sticky. She pulled it back to find it coated in dark thick blood, she then noticed the large pool of blood collecting behind the chair. She gasped and looked at his paling face in horror.  
  
"Stay with me!" she cried out but the darkness began to engulf him, his vision doubled and he suddenly found himself in a different time and place.  
  
#########  
  
Harper stood quietly in an empty parking lot leaning against his newest creation, his big shiny black car. Something he had made out the history books but had altered and tweaked it for his own purposes. It was a quiet night void of any snow flurries so for once he could actually see the moon clearly, sitting bright and heavy against the dark velvet sky. It was only his third mission and already he had gotten the code name Zee, meaning he was the best of the best, but even with his highly decelerated title he was still nerves. He still felt new and uncomfortable in his surroundings but he hid it well. The crunch of snow alerted him to someone's presence and he instinctively gripped his holstered guns. He turned to see a shapely figure walking his way and he relaxed. Tyr had told him he was picking up what he called a "negotiator" but he had assumed it would have been a man, but judging by the switch of it's hips and the gracefulness of it's strides he realized that he had assumed wrong. The cloaked figure finally walked up to the car and studied it for a while before acknowledging him.  
  
"Zee?" a sweet voice said from under her dark hood. Her voice was sweet yet stern and focused.  
  
"That's me, you must be the negotiator." He said and she nodded.  
  
"You can call me Vee." She said and Harper cocked his head to the side inquisitively.  
  
"Vee? You're pretty high on the list. You must be good." He said while continuing to leisurely lean against his car.  
  
"I do alright, your pretty high yourself. You must be the best." She said idly.  
  
"I do alright." He said and she smirked. He smiled back and silence fell between the two.  
  
"Shall we?" He said walking around to his side of the car. He opened it and jumped in and she did the same. He started the engine and the car awoke rumbling underneath them. He sped away toward there objective.  
  
"You got a full debriefing of the mission right?"  
  
"Yes I did, I understand how important this is. You shouldn't worry about my part of this mission; I'm good at what I do." She said lowering her hood. Harper couldn't help but gaze in awe at her beauty, her smooth chocolate skin, her full plump lips and alluring eyes. Her hair fell about her slender shoulders in ringlets and Harper had to use all his strength and integrity not to loudly inhale her scent and run his hands down her unblemished skin.  
  
"What do you call this thing?" She said running her hands over the dashboard and tapping two red furry dice that hung on the rearview mirror.  
  
"It's a car." He said nonchalantly.  
  
"You should give it a better name." She said wrinkling her nose at the name 'car'.  
  
"Like what?" He said with amusement.  
  
"I don't know...how about Nancy."  
  
"Nancy? Why Nancy?"  
  
"I don't know, just always seemed like a good name to me." She said with a shrug and Harper looked at her for awhile trying to figure the exquisite women out. She seemed happy to talk to him and genuinely surprised every time he responded back to her.  
  
"That name is growing on me...I think I like it." He said getting a smile from his beautiful passenger. The dice she had tapped finally stopped one had three dots and the other had four.  
  
"Seven, that's a lucky number you know."  
  
"You believe in luck?"  
  
"We are playing a game of chance everyday...the luck of the draw, either you win or you die." She said and Harper nodded, he had only met this woman 20 minuets ago and she already had him completely captivated and utterly fascinated. Vee looked back at the dice and smiled.  
  
"Today it seems like something good is gonna happen, Luck is on my side." She said and caught Harper looking down at something white and fluffy that hung around his neck, she had no idea what it was but if he wore it so close to his heart then it must have been important. The rest of the drive was quiet while they exchanged awkward glances and smiles. They finally made it to their destination and they both climbed out of the car to join 4 men crouching behind a short concrete wall facing a small seemingly abandoned building.  
  
"What's it lookin' like?" Harper said immediately taking his leadership role.  
  
"We've got movement inside, I estimate 7-8 armed men. The Mark is inside we have confirmation on that. I've wired explosives around the perimeter of the building to cause one hell of a fireworks show." Dee said continuing to look through his night vision binoculars and chew on a bright piece of wire. He finally looked away and frowned at Vee but she just ignored the frown.  
  
"I'm gonna use your car to prepare..." Vee said and Harper raised his eyebrow but didn't protest. Prepare? She walked away toward his car and Harper couldn't help but watch her switch away. Dee leaned over to Harper and whispered.  
  
"You can look all you want but I wouldn't touch." Dee said with a wicked grin that warped into a frown. Vee disappeared into Harper's car and he diverted his attention to Dee.  
  
"You tap that and who knows what you might come up with." Dee laughed switching the wire from one side of his mouth to the other with his tongue.  
  
"What do you mean?" Harper said completely clueless.  
  
"She's a negotiator Zee, I guess Tyr didn't tell you about what she does huh? Well, let me tell it to ya like this. She goes in, and her idea of negotiating is to get them all hot and bothered so they'll drop their trousers and well you know..." Dee said nudging him with his elbow with a wink and a smirk.  
  
"Then she gives the signal... We storm in while their pants are around their ankles and whack 'em while they are off guard" Dee said turning up his nose in disgust. Harpers eyes widened and then saddened as he saw Vee step out of the car. She wore the same black cloak that hung just below her knees. It rippled slightly in the wind and Harper knew that she didn't have any clothes on underneath and his heart skipped a beat. Now he knew why she was so excited to talk to him before, these guys never gave her any respect because they thought of her as a whore; he must have been the first person to ever just take the time to talk to her, to treat her like a human being.  
  
"So to put it bluntly, almost every mark we've ever whacked has had a piece of that ass, so look but don't touch." Dee whispered in a hurry as she walked up. Harper looked up at Vee's face but she had once again hidden it in her cloak.  
  
"I'm ready." She said in her usual stoic and strong voice but inside Harper could tell there was a very scared and vulnerable women crying inside of her.  
  
"Let's do this." Dee said and Vee nodded. She stepped up over the concrete wall that concealed the rest of the team and marched down toward the building.  
  
##########  
  
"Don't you dare leave me again Harper! Not after we just found you!" he could hear a voice and his eyes opened again snapping him back to reality. There were lights above moving, or was he moving and the lights staying still? He wasn't sure. His whole body felt numb and the blond women smiled down at him with cherry lips.  
  
"I can't believe it, my Harper is back, my Harper is back." She said rubbing his hair, her other hand covering her mouth as her eyes wavered. They entered a large room and finally the lights stopped and he didn't feel so nauseas anymore.  
  
"Beka, I need you to monitor Dylan's life signs." Came a tiny child like voice. Beka looked as if she didn't' want to part and the smooth voice outside of harpers field of vision spoke again.  
  
"Beka I understand your need to stay by his side, but they are both dying and I only have 2 hands....please." Beka looked down at Harper one more time before letting go.  
  
"Hang in there sport, I'm counting on you." She said kissing his forehead and then hurrying over to Dylan. Suddenly something Harper had only seen in his dreams stepped into his view and he smiled in disbelief.  
  
"You're real...purple" he said deliriously.  
  
"Yes, I'm real...now I need you to just relax. Everything will be ok." She said with a wide grin and eyes that seemed to glimmer just for him. She grabbed some swabs and began to clean his wound as his eyes rolled back once again and reality slipped away from him.  
  
##########  
  
Harper watched with horror as Vee sauntered up to the crumbling building. She positioned herself provocatively at the door and knocked. Harper adjusted his coat commuicator into an open channel so he could hear what was going on. He subconsciously rubbed his rabbits foot between his fingers.  
  
"Hey, whatta ya want?" came a rough voice as Harper adjusted his night vision goggles to see where the voice was coming from. At the door stood a tall thick greasy looking man with an automatic rifle slung haphazardly over his shoulder.  
  
"I was wondering if anyone here was up for some fun. I've got some time to kill." She said sweeping her hair over her shoulder but Harper could have sworn he could hear her heartbeat pick up.  
  
"It depends on what your up for...there seems to be a lot of us and only one of you." The dirty man said eyeing her chest and licking his lips.  
  
"Sounds like my kinda party." She said and Harper grimaced. Didn't she know what was gonna happen to her in there?  
  
"Well, right this way." The man said with a laugh closing the door behind him, leaving what ever happened next to Harper's imagination. He lowered his night vision goggles but continued to listen intently to his communicator.  
  
"Hey look guys. We've got ourselves a party favor!" Yelled the man and grunts of sexual deprived men rang out through out the abandoned building.  
  
"Dee how many did you say there were?" Harper said with worry.  
  
"About 7-8...give or take 3 or 4" Dee said resting on his haunches waiting for her signal.  
  
"We should go in there...7-8 guys is bad enough 10 is even worse...she's gonna get raped in there." Harper hissed at Dee and he just raised an amused eyebrow at Harper.  
  
"She's a negotiator remember? It's what she does. Stop worrying." Dee said waving it off with a yawn and Harper couldn't believe his ears. They were gonna just let her get raped? Over the communicator they could hear her staggered breathing, they could hear her fear.  
  
"Don't look so scared sweetheart...we ain't gonna hurt you to bad, just gonna make sure we all get a turn." A man rasped. The rest of Harper's team sat and waited playing tick-tack-toe in the snow laughing and taking swigs from unlabeled bottles as if nothing was going on but Harper couldn't just stand by and watch this happen. He squeezed his eyes shut when he heard a whimper and yelp. He couldn't take it. He jumped over the concrete wall and ran toward the building at full throttle.  
  
"Shit Zee! what the fuck are you doin'!" Dee yelled over his communicator which stung Harpers ears.  
  
"I'm getting her out of there." Harper said. He was surprised he reached the door without anyone noticing him. He guessed they were all too preoccupied. He touched the knob hesitantly with his gun charged and ready in his other hand. The door creaked open and Harper's eyes grew three sizes and all sound and purpose ceased to exist. The only thing in his world was the horrid scene before him where the smiling exquisite beauty he had shared conversation with just a few minuets earlier was being brutally manhandled and tied down by a horde of murderers.  
  
##########  
  
"VEE!!!!" Harper screamed suddenly scrambling to get free.  
  
"Help me hold him down or he'll reopen his wounds!" Trance yelled and hands clamped down on harpers arms and legs.  
  
"STOP! STOP! YOU'RE ANIMALS!"  
  
"shhh zee, your home now on the andromeda where you can leave all of that behind." Vee whispered.  
  
"You don't deserve it..." he continued to struggle becoming even more agitated when he couldn't find his weapon and Zee knew exactly what he was talking about and she struggled to gather her own panicking emotions. That was an incident that was never spoken of...never mentioned.  
  
"No one deserves it Zee, and remember you saved me and now it's just you and me. Nobody else, but you and me." She said calmly. Her tone was sweet and Harper began to relax.  
  
"I saved you..." Harper whispered while Trance took that moment to inject him with a sedative. Once again his world swirled and he found himself in another pivotal moment in his past.  
  
##########  
  
"You over stepped your boundaries on the last mission Zee" Came a smooth voice he was very familiar with. The voice of his savior and father. Tyr stood tall and bulky before him crotched slightly in position to attack. Harper mimicked his stance and they circled each other, there bare feet slapping the padded matt as sweat rolled off of every part of their bodies. Tyr had called Harper in for a practice session but Harper knew immediately that there was something else on Tyr's mind.  
  
"She didn't deserve to be treated that way, I couldn't stand by and watch her be...be soiled." Harper said and Tyr nodded slowly then lunged at the smaller man. Harper flipped back and slid between the bigger mans legs and tried to sweep him off his feet from behind but Tyr jumped into the air and came down hard, slashed Harper's shirt with is bonespurs. Harper grimaced as a small red line appeared on his now exposed chest. Tyr smiled down at his young son and offered his hand which Harper took with a grin he only let his father see. They fell back into their stances and circled once again.  
  
"It is not your place to decide whether someone under my ultimate command is deserving of there treatment. Do not misunderstand your place." Tyr said blocking Harper's punches and kicks but smiling at the speed and accuracy of his fledglings awesome skill.  
  
"I made a command decision. There were too many men for her to distract all at once, it would have ended in her losing her life and us losing the mark." Harper said calmly but Tyr grabbed him by the wrists and looked into the pale boys eyes.  
  
"It's more then that, I know you Zee, I know everything about you and I won't let you stand here for even a moment and let you lie to me, I know the difference between duty and lust. You risked your life to save a woman you don't even know, an action of a fool." Harper turned away and wrenched his hands away from Tyr which got him an angry growl.  
  
"Her code name is Vee, meaning that she's very high ranking and we can't afford to lose her. Why is it with a ranking as high as hers that she has the lowly task of being a negotiator? Is it because she is a women?" Harper said and Tyr laughed.  
  
"If I had such prejudice I would have left the scrawny, malnutrition human I had found in the gutter where he lay. I have no prejudice against her gender, but she is good at what she does and I have capitalized on her talents."  
  
"Wouldn't she be a better assassin with her talents, instead of a whore." Harper said through clinched teeth, anger pooling into his eyes.  
  
"Are you challenging me child?." Tyr said stiffly, flexing his bone spurs and squinting his eyes. Harper quickly hushed and turned his head away from the angry eyes of his surrogate father. Harper didn't step back like he usually would under that tone and glare, he still stood toe to toe with the big neitzchean and Tyr took note of his defiance and knew this issue wasn't over. Tyr stepped to the side and grabbed his towel and tossed it over his shoulder and smoothly walked toward the door.  
  
"I gave a little man with no hope for survival a chance and he surprised me by turned out to be the best in two years of training. So I'll offer you two years to train Vee and make her the . If after two years she impresses me then she'll be given full status and will become equal to her male counterparts, but if she doesn't impress me then she will return to her duties as negotiator and all ties between the two of you will be severed forever." Tyr said smoothly sweeping his long locs out of his face, his wide back still facing Harper who was still studying the floor.  
  
"Love is a wasted emotion Zee, and has no place here." Tyr said in a tone he only used with Harper, a fatherly double edged tone that held a hint of warning and a hint of care.  
  
"If love has no place here then neither does loyalty, because for anyone to be truly loyal they must have some love in their heart." Harper said to Tyr's back and silence filled the sparring room. Tyr turned his head to the smaller man looking over his shoulder with a small smirk on his face.  
  
"Very well said." Tyr said and stepped out leaving Harper standing quietly in the center of the huge mat.  
  
"2 years..." Harper said and smiled. His father had given her a chance...  
  
##########  
  
"Yeah you did, you saved me..." Vee said watching his eyes droop and then finally close. She let out a loud sigh. Her eyes filled with worry. She watched his eyes shift back and forth under his lids and knew he was dreaming, more then likely about her. The room was quiet as everyone looked down at the sleeping hit man. Vee pulled up a chair and sat next to Harper and so did a blond haired women, while the purple enigma checked on Dylan's stats."  
  
"Your name is Beka right?" Vee said over the constant beep of Harper's heart monitor.  
  
"That's me, Beka Valentine." Beka said quietly, here eyes never leaving Harpers young face.  
  
"I can tell that you care for him very much, Dylan told me he had a family up here but I didn't expect to see so much love shared so openly...it's refreshing." Vee said staring off into the distance, reminiscing about old times. Beka's reached back with her mind and plucking out all the reasons why she loved Seamus Zelazney Harper, all the reasons why he was her sole reason to live...  
  
"He's like a brother to me, when I lost him...I couldn't go on, he is the only family I have left...but I kept the hope of finding him alive and here he is...right here." She said squeezing his hand and holding back the tears. Vee's mood changed quickly and Beka noticed.  
  
"What?" Beka said trying to look Vee in the eye but she kept turning away.  
  
"Trance said he'll be alright, he was just delirious from the blood loss." She said hoping to reassure Vee when it was Vee trying to find a way to reassure Beka.  
  
"Dylan didn't have the chance to tell you about Zee." Vee said moving a stray piece of hair off his forehead. His cheeks were red with fever but she would rather see the red then the pale white of before.  
  
"Zee? You mean about Harper." Beka said with a little edge in her voice. She was very territorial about what was hers and Vee knew that her overbearing, possessiveness might soon prove to be a problem but she let it pass.  
  
"Yes, about harper...he's, he's changed a lot and I don't want you to expect too much." Vee said and Beka's eyes flashed with anger and resentment  
  
"And who are you?" Beka sneered  
  
"I'm his wife." Vee said staring at her and Beka's eyes widened as they surveyed the strong willed ebony women before her. Beka's anger slowly melted away 'his wife' she mouthed as her gaze landed on Harper's peaceful face.  
  
"There's something else that you need to know." Vee said looking into Beka's wavering eyes. She knew that this would crush her the most, knowing that she had found what she had been searching for, for 5 years only to find that all that was left was the shell of the man she once knew and loved. Her brother now replaced with a trained killer.  
  
"Harper has no memory beyond 4 years ago. I'm sorry Beka but when he wakes up he'll be seeing you for the first time." Vee said and Beka just stared, her face unreadable.  
  
"Dylan's coming around." Trance said breaking the silence and turning around only to see Beka's retreating back as the med lab doors closed behind her.  
  
TBC 


End file.
